My travel plans to New York City had already been set when I ventured over to the NYRR website to see what races they had going on during the time I’d be there. When I initially checked, nothing was set, but based on the 2017 date, I thought that maybe, just maybe, the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half would be happening while I was there. As luck would have it, the race was being held the weekend I arrived! Yes!

Now all I had to do was wait and register. Good thing I didn’t wait too long after registration opened to sign up because the race sold out!

I was all prepared to compile this long list of goals for the year and then I started to think about them, I mean really think about them and turns out I basically have two:

1. Finish every race I start.

2. Don’t get injured.

Yes, finish every race I start, so it also includes that 100 miler I have my eye on. Also, “start” is the operative word here. If I don’t start a race, how will I ever finish it eh? And If I’m not injured, chances are I’ll start each race, right? I like the sound of this.

Happy New Year! Can you believe 2017 is officially in the books?! A part of me wanted to write up this huge long end-of-year recap but truthfully, there really wasn’t much to recap.

Somehow, I managed to squeak in 1,177 miles for the year which included only one race – Leona Divide 50K in April. It’s amazing how little consistent bites of miles add up and I gotta say I’m surprised I even hit 1,000 miles for the year. Running a mile is a gift so anything above that is a true blessing and I’m thankful for every step.

When I ended 2016, I set my intentions for 2017 to take it easy and take a break. No multiple races. No big mileage. I wasn’t even planning on doing any races at all. While 2016 was called, “The Year of the Ultras,” 2017 was going to be a year of “R and R.” That is, Recovery and Rebuilding. Not sure what 2018 will be called but I sure hope “Epic” is part of it.

This week I was anxiously awaiting word on whether I was going to be accepted into the Chicago Marathon. After I ran it last year, I knew I wanted to return. But instead of registering as part of a charity like I did in 2016, I opted to partake in the lottery and on October 31st, I threw my name into the hat.

I met Sean O’Brien back on February 1, 2014. Sean O’Brien made me question my sanity for the first time. Sean O’Brien pushed my body harder than it had ever been pushed before, up to that point. Sean O’Brien (almost) made me cry. I think my tear ducts were way too exhausted to even conjure up actual tears. Sean O’Brien was my first 50K finish and since that near soul crushing day, I haven’t returned. But that’s about to change.

In my previous post, I was basically trying to figure out how to slow down time because it never ceases to amaze me how fast time is flying by these days. Well, turns out nothing slows down time more than stepping on the treadmill, preparing to be on there for at least an hour, and you forget your phone at home which contains your music that helps you jam out and kind of forget you’re on the treadmill. This is what happened to me last Friday…the following morning after the post went out.

Well, well, well…what do we have here? Another month trying to duck past me and it thinks that I wouldn’t see it. Well, it worked because I didn’t. One day it was November 1st and the next thing I know it’s Thanksgiving, and now we’re one day away from the final month of the year!

I’m always so surprised how fast time flies by and so I recently Googled this whole “flying time” concept. Oh who am I kidding? I literally just looked it up 5 minutes before starting this post. Actually I looked up how to slow down time because nowadays I can’t seem to get a grasp on it.

One thing that resonated was trying to practice more mindfulness in our day by paying more attention and noticing what we’re doing. Basically being more in the present moment. Something tells me I haven’t been very good at that because my mind is all over the place. This could be a forewarning on how the rest of this post may go.

This weekend is the Javelina Jundred (in case you’re not familiar with it, the “J” in Jundred is silent and pronounced like “H” in Hundred) and I’ve jad a teensy tiny bit of FOMO surrounding it. Of course, that feeling didn’t last long and I jave no regret over not being there and attempting the 100 miler again. Nor, is there any regret for not going for the 100K. Officially.

For much of the first jalf of this year, I actually contemplated returning to Arizona to run Javelina again. Maybe because I was constantly reminded of it practically every single day. Yep. Several times a week I’d see Arizona written somewhere.

A few weeks ago, when my friend Melody and I got together for a trail run, it was dark and we weren’t thoroughly prepared for it. Two weeks ago, we met up at a slightly earlier time and were better prepared for darkness. That is, after I dug my headlamp out of my drawer that apparently still had the batteries in it. Thank goodness those batteries worked because I don’t think I’ve used that thing since April.